| Micha Cárdenas | |
|---|---|
Becoming Dragon |
|
| Born | 1977 |
| Nationality | American |
| Field | Performance |
| Training | University of California San Diego |
| Influenced by | Stelarc |
Micha Cárdenas is a transgender performance and new media artist. Her work deals with the interplay of technology, gender, sex, immigration and biopolitics. She currently lives and works in Los Angeles.
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Cárdenas is currently a PhD Student at the University of Southern California in the Interdivisional Media Arts and Practice (iMAP) program. She received her MFA at the University of California San Diego in the summer of 2009, and holds a Master's degree in Media and Communications with distinction from the European Graduate School and a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science from Florida International University.
Cárdenas was a Lecturer in the Visual Arts Department[1] and Critical Gender Studies Program[2] at UCSD in 2009 and 2010. She was previously the Interim Associate Director of Art and Technology for the Culture, Art and Technology program at UCSD[3] and a researcher at the Center for Research in Computing and the Arts, CalIT2 and the UCSD School of Medicine.[4]
Cárdenas has performed and presented her work in many places around the world, including the 2010 California Biennial,[5][6] the 2009 Mérida Biennial[7] and the Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics 7th Encuentro in Bogotá, Colombia.[8] In 2008, Cardenas performed "Becoming Dragon", a 365 hour mixed reality performance in Second Life.[9] Recent projects include virus.circus, a collaboration with Elle Mehrmand.[10] Cárdenas also worked in the Experimental Game Lab at CRCA on the Scalable City project.[11] She has also curated exhibits in Tijuana, Mexico [12]
Cárdenas' book, co-authored with Barbara Fornssler, Trans Desire / Affective Cyborgs discusses an experimental conception of politics based in desire.[13] Cárdenas has published several works related to the theoretical issues raised in her performances including "Becoming Dragon, A Transversal Technology Study" in the book Code Drift from CTheory press [14], and "I Am Transreal" in the book Gender Outlaws the Next Generation, edited by Kate Bornstein and S. Bear Bergman[15]. Additional published works include "Technesexual Interface: Erotic Mixed Reality Performance",[16] in Digimag.it co-authored with Elle Mehrmand.
As a member of the Electronic Disturbance Theater/b.a.n.g. lab,[17] She helped design the Transborder Immigrant Tool, a GPS device that is designed to help illegal immigrants crossing the US-Mexico border find water stations during their journey.[18] Cardenas argued that the aim of this project was "about giving water to somebody who's dying in the desert of dehydration,"[19] but which critics claimed was an irresponsible use of government funds, and a tool that would also help facilitate other illegal activity, like smuggling, as well.[20]. Ultimately, all investigations of the project were dropped without finding any misuse of funds or illegal activity on the part of the artists.[21]